Talking to son's first grade class next week....

[EM Junkie]

---

Members don't see this ad.

So after a whole school year of dodging it, I've been roped in to talking to my son's first grade class about what I do.

Anyone ever done this? Any pointers on keeping that age group interested without scaring the hell out of them?

Any helpful replies welcomed. Humorous jabs tolerated....

 

[RustedFox]

Depends; do they receive Press-Ganey surveys, or are they screened out? Lolz.

There was another thread on this a few years back.

Let them play with stethoscope, otoscope, etc. Show them x-rays. Let them put bandages on each other.

 

[Alejandro]

Bring a few of those disposable stethoscopes and whatever else you can find in the stockroom for novelty purposes 😀

 

[Old&InTheWay]

I would focus on the helping/service aspect of your job. Maybe talk about a time where you failed, or were scared/overwhelmed and how you worked through it. I think these attributes/skills are some of the most important to model for young kids.

I wouldn't bother with the "scared straight" talk as I highly doubt you are going to say something that will keep a 6 or 7 year-old from hurting him/herself.

What does your son find interesting about what you do? My 5 year-old is really curious about human anatomy; I think x-rays would go over well. Maybe bring some typical and abnormal x-rays and see if they can spot the difference?

 

[Birdstrike]

So after a whole school year of dodging it, I've been roped in to talking to my son's first grade class about what I do.

Anyone ever done this? Any pointers on keeping that age group interested without scaring the hell out of them?

Any helpful replies welcomed. Humorous jabs tolerated....

I did this. Bought a "What its like to be a doctor book" and read it to them (10 page, 1st grade level, kind of thing). Brought in some gloves (blew them up like balloons and make chickens out of them, duh!). Brought in some cool X-rays (normals not light bulbs up the-, lol). Brought a stethoscope, let kids listen to their own hearts. Brought syringe and saline (makes cool squirt gun!)

Then I answered questions which mostly consisted of kids raising their hands and telling me cools stories about how their siblings stuck stuff in various body orifices and ended up in EDs, where they saw un-mentionables in the waiting room.



It was fun, actually. My kid thought I was a rock star afterwards. There's already an entire thread on this, btw, with some other good ideas.

 

[BAM!]

Splint someone's arm.

 

[EM Junkie]

Thanks all for the great ideas! I guess I'll leave my talk about "things your Daddy has pulled out of people's rectums" on the shelf a few more years!

 

[Birdstrike]

Thanks all for the great ideas! I guess I'll leave my talk about "things your Daddy has pulled out of people's rectums" on the shelf a few more years!

Save for future advanced college-credit classes.